So I know I kinda said I'd keep everyone apprised of the details regarding updating our Minecraft, but then my internet kinda went totally sideways. So at that time our problem was the Skylands world which would lose its plugin and be unable to generate new terrain (or even load), and that was the deal breaker with moving to 1.9... Well, Keegan lit a fire under my ass, so we put our heads together today to see what all needs to be done to bring us a bit closer to being current. Turns out, not a whole lot!

First off, the biggest hurdle, the Skylands aspect, I believe we have taken care of. A little more testing will be needed, but I believe everything should function normally. Being Skylands actually helps lessen the visual impact of world gen issues, but I indeed must warn you that there will be some areas where the Islands suddenly stop, or change. Thankfully it won't look nearly as bad as how the world was when going from 1.6 to 1.7, leaving those sudden cliffs where Biomes changed (totally ruined the ocean around Atlantis, which is now just a lake by comparison). However, this plugin it's still a bit of a limiting factor and so we're aiming for using 1.10.2 as the update version.

Other than that, all the major plugins will remain, and so far seem OK. BUT, that doesn't mean everything was updated or still works. The biggest would be the plugin behind the Pegasus, which does indeed suck, but we do have a plan to make up for its loss. My beloved Ping (both, actually) were abandoned and I'll have to find a replacement for, as well as the chat announcer that just loops helpful details, and the World Saver. :P There's also the SecureChest plugin, but that's exactly why we added LWC all those months back, and why EVERYONE SINCE THEN HAS STOPPED USING /sc TO LOCK STUFF... RIGHT? ;) ;) I'm sure there are some others that may be found to have broken, but thus far that's the list.

As for an ETA on update? I honestly can't say... I'd like to think it's within the cards to happen over the weekend, but I don't know if we're that lucky! lol Lets not anticipate it'll happen that soon, alright? Keep your fingers crossed, but hopes at a realistic level!

-Form & Keeg

EDIT: To answer some of the questions in the comments, since I forgot to mention or neglected to convey properly...-- Wild3, etc (aka Skylands) is not going anywhere and everything that has been create will continue to be there, and anything that hasn't yet, will continue to generate in a more-or-less identical fashion to how it does currently. The one notable exception being that I notice the newly generated islands have clusters of Glowstone similar to The Nether, but I can't imagine anyone having an issue with that. In other words, nothing is going to be lost/unsaved! At least that's the plan, andwe'll have a backup just in case, but so far on the Test server the old Skylands remains and the unexplored chunks generate fine with minimal unsightly changes. -- The annoying Combat changes made in 1.9 will be countered with a plugin to make them more 1.8-like. The only thing that will be 'lost' is Sword Blocking. Given the fact I don't think anyone even uses their sword to block, we didn't think this would be a big deal, particularly given the fact that there are now real shields to use! :) There was the option to make it auto-switch to a Shield during right-click with a sword in hand, but that's kinda silly and would be a bit of processing overhead that isn't needed, thus we opted to disable it. Again, given there will be actual shields and off-hand weapons, there's no need for that old sword feature anyways. TL;DR - There is NO combat delay, and the Tool's damage will also be reverted back to 1.8 levels (for axe, picks, shovels).-- As for The End.... Not 100% sure yet. All I can say is we have things there as well, and thus don't want to let it reset. The main portal location is kinda messy and while I know there are some really old-player builds there, I don't believe anyone currently inhabits there. IF YOU DO, I would highly recommend that you move any chests and other valuables out, as a precaution. However, I do not see there being any issues with that area and it should be the exact same as Skylands, where only unexplored chunks result in 1.9+ content generating. (On the flip side of the coin, there are long stretches of void that we've flown through which would result in a very silly looking generation pattern, so I likely will go in and hand-remove those areas in order to let them 'reset' as there is nothing there anyways.)

As one of AMS Network's staff, in the Head Developer position, I will be one of the staff members you'll see more often than not. I know of our past, but I hope we can start anew. Should we choose to merge, I hope for the best!